Perceived organizational support and well-being of tour guides: The mediating effects of quality of work life

The reciprocity norm theory suggests that individuals develop a sense of obligation and indebtedness to reciprocate the favorable treatment they receive. Rooted in the notion of reciprocity norm, organizational support is regarded as essential for organizations to maintain long-term relationships with their employees. Despite an established academic discussion on organizational support and its outcomes in behavioral and applied psychology research, a comprehensive understanding of its role in enhancing employees' well-being is surprisingly limited in the field of tourism. Drawing on the organizational support theory and theoretical conceptualizations on well-being, the present study proposes a conceptual model linking perceived organizational support (POS) with quality of work life, life satisfaction, and burnout. Using data from 301 tour guides, the results show that POS enhances tour guides' quality of work life and reduces their levels of burnout. The findings also show that while POS does not have a direct effect on life satisfaction, this effect emerges mediated by the quality of work life. As predicted, quality of work life was found as a key antecedent of life satisfaction. The current study highlights the role of POS in enhancing the well-being of tour guides and shows how well-being at the workplace is associated with well-being in life

Host Perceptions of Tourism Development: The Case of Petra

The nature of tourism sector requires “consumer” to move to where the service is provided. Consumer’s movement to a different place leads to a direct encounter not only with service providers but also with those who live where the service is provided. This encounter results in a set of changes in the host community’s life. By using a self-completion questionnaire, this paper examined the residents’ perceptions of tourism development in Jordan’s main tourist destination, Petra. The findings suggested that the host community in Petra had positive attitudes toward tourism development in their city. The results showed that social and cultural impacts of tourism were most favored by surveyed sample. Host community is also assumed to favor tourism development for its role in bringing about better local services. The results are discussed thoroughly and directions for future research are suggested

Çanakkale'de düzenlenen Anzak tur programlarına yönelik bir içerik analizi

Yeni Zelandalı ve Avusturyalı turistler için Çanakkale’nin önemi göz önünde bulundurulduğunda, bu çalışma iki önemli potansiyel pazarda Türkiye’ye yönelik yapılması planlanan ve tanıtılan tur programlarını incelemektir. Birkaç Yeni Zelandalı ve Avusturyalı tur programları üzerine içerik analizi yöntemi uygulayarak, bir turistik destinasyon olarak Çanakkale pazarında ortaya çıkan ortak temaların önemini vurgulanmaktadır. Çalışmada ortaya konan tarih ve arkeolojik alanlar ve deneyim odaklı etkinlikler Yeni Zelandalı ve Avusturyalı tur operatörleri programlarından en çok kullanılan temalardır. Elde edilen sonuçlar, Türkiye’deki turizm planlayıcılarına Yeni Zelanda ve Avusturya turist pazarını oluşturmada ve destinasyon pazarlama stratejilerini uygulama konusunda yardım olması beklenmektedir

Entrepreneurial motives, entrepreneurial success and life satisfaction of refugees venturing in tourism and hospitality

Purpose. A burgeoning stream of tourism and hospitality research highlights the role of entrepreneurship in bringing about positive social and economic outcomes for both refugees themselves and their host countries. Yet little has been done so far both in mainstream entrepreneurship research and tourism scholarship to explore how motivations influence perceived entrepreneurial success of refugees and how this eventually affects their subjective well-being. To address this gap, the present study proposes and empirically tests a conceptual model postulating relationships between contextual and individual entrepreneurial motives, perceptions of entrepreneurial success, and life satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach. The study draws on quantitative data collected through 172 surveys of refugee entrepreneurs venturing in different sub-sectors within tourism and hospitality in Turkey and the UK. A Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to test the proposed theoretical model. Findings. The results reveal that contextual and individual entrepreneurial motives have a significant positive impact on perceived entrepreneurial success. As predicted, perceived entrepreneurial success is found to have a significant positive impact on life satisfaction. A multi-group analysis involving host country (Turkey vs the UK) and mode of entry (founder vs takeover) indicates no significant difference based on host country whereas the strength of relationships for takeovers is relatively greater as compared to founders. Practical implications. The study advocates that the reductionist approach viewing refugees as temporary “outsiders” who are in consistent need of public provision and welfare services should not prevail against their ability to achieve self-efficiency through entrepreneurship. Hence, policies need to be oriented toward supporting refugee entrepreneurial activities over various business stages and modes of entry. More importantly, ensuring high success rates among refugee entrepreneurs should be viewed as a pivotal tool to address the well-being of refugees, their families, and their fellows. Originality/value. While previous research identifies drivers of entrepreneurship success and the potential favorable outcomes, none of these studies empirically models refugee entrepreneurship motives, self-reported entrepreneurial success, and life satisfaction as a distinct and growing cohort of entrepreneurs. The study makes significant theoretical contributions to the corpus of literature on the social outcomes of entrepreneurship and provides timely implications for policy makers to utilize entrepreneurship as a market-based solution to address refugees’ subjective well-being

The effect of hospitableness on positive emotions, experience, and well-being of hospital patients

The role of hospitableness in hedonic service settings has been subject to considerable theoretical and empirical investigation; however, its role in utilitarian service settings (e.g., hospitals) has received notably scant attention. Drawing on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model, this study proposes and tests a conceptual model linking hospitableness, patient experience, positive emotions, overall satisfaction, subjective well-being, and recommendation intention. Drawing on quantitative data (n = 204) collected from inpatients in hospitals, the findings largely support the proposed theoretical model and confirm that hospitableness can positively influence patient experience and positive emotions, but not overall satisfaction. Interestingly, while hospitableness does not seem to directly influence overall satisfaction, this effect is indirectly achieved via patient experience. The findings also reveal that patients’ subjective well-being may be enhanced by positive emotions but not overall satisfaction. Both positive emotions and overall satisfaction have a positive effect on recommendation intention. The study makes several theoretical implications and proposes significant practical implications both for the hospitality and healthcare sectors

Modelling social inclusion, self-esteem, loneliness, psychological distress, and psychological resilience of refugees : does hospitableness matter?

Despite a growing stream of research addressing hospitableness in destinations and hospitality settings, very little is known about the role of hospitableness in fostering favorable social outcomes for vulnerable individuals such as refugees. This omission is intriguing given the heated debate on how local communities in refugee hosting countries can contribute to tackling the refugee crisis. Drawing on data collected from Ukrainian refugees hosted by locals in Slovakia, this study proposes and tests a conceptual model linking hospitableness, social inclusion, self-esteem, loneliness, psychological distress, psychological resilience, and subjective well-being. Using SEM-PLS, the findings confirm that hospitableness can positively enhance social inclusion while mitigating loneliness. Contrary to our predication, however, our results fail to confirm the positive effect of hospitableness on subjective well-being both directly and indirectly mediated by self-esteem and social inclusion. Psychological resilience significantly moderates the relationship between hospitableness and social inclusion. The study makes significant theoretical contributions to the corpus of literature on the social outcomes of hospitableness and provides timely implications for policy makers to utilise “refugee hosting by locals” schemes and “private sponsorship of refugees” programmes as a viable solution to enhance refugees’ social inclusion and foster their overall well-being

The Jordanian National Tourism System

Summary The study of National Tourism System in Jordan aims to shed some light on the structure of tourism industry in Jordan by illustrating the real resources present in the country, assessing the quality of services, and then exploring the management efficiency, ie. Governance dimension. The work has been based on the structure provided by the Resource-based Theory (RBT) which gives a significant weight to the existed resources in the territory and considers them as an important factor for the development of the product. Moreover RBT draws a connection between the various components in the area and the evolution and sustainability of tourism product. The author used the Resource-Service-Governance framework to show the relationship between these three elements in order to understand to how extent they affect the final product and its image. Five Jordanian tourist destinations were chosen, for this purpose, as a research field. That was useful to portray the reality of the Jordanian product, and to give a holistic idea about the local tourism systems adopted in these destinations. It is quite clear that the first dimension of the framework (Resources) represents the cornerstone from which to launch any tourist destination by exploiting these resources that can attract both tourists and investors. The analysis of tourism resources in Jordan is considered necessary before putting into place any global master plan for development. Moreover, exploring the nature of resources in Jordan leads us to put in order our priorities of work, focusing on the economic projects and programmes that can generate rapid and sustainable economic results. The second dimension (services) also has a crucial role in the life of the tourist destination. Indeed, a destination with poor tourist facilities (accessibility, accommodation, food and beverage services, and entertainment) will not be able to attract the numbers of tourists that it deserves even if it is rich in resources. The third dimension of the framework is Governance, and here we highlight the impact of policies and strategies adopted by both the public and private sectors to develop the tourism industry in the country. The form of the role played by governance is extremely crucial and significant in the development of tourist sites. In most cases, this role is assumed by government bodies, politicians, and decision makers who undertake practical procedures to realise their visions. Moreover, the concept of “Governance” sheds some light on the managerial aspects of the tourist destination, the degree of coordination between the various stakeholders, and the role given to those stakeholders in terms of the policies and strategy making. Indeed, many countries, especially the developing ones, have started to involve the private sector more in the planning process since it has became an important partner on the development path. Jordan, for example, has launched a great initiative that aims to bridge the gap between the private and public sector, and to build an integrative relationship between them instead of a hostile and unfriendly one. The author attempted to demonstrate several aspects of the Jordanian products such as; evolution of tourist sites, the competitiveness of Jordan as a tourist destination, quality of tourism services, the impact of the transport sector on the performance of Jordanian tourism system, price-quality relationship in the Jordanian product, relationship between private and public sector, decision making process, relationship between various public bodies and private sector, the role of private sector in the enactment of regulations and laws, the role of private sector in the promotion of product, and finally the efficiency of tourism statistical system and its impact on the availability of tourist database in Jordan

Exploring entrepreneurship in the sharing accommodation sector: Empirical evidence from a developing country

A plethora of research has been conducted over the past few years to explore several aspects of the key exchange actors within the sharing accommodation sector (i.e. hosts and guests). However, despite the exponential growth in the sharing accommodation entrepreneurship, literature exploring the characteristics, motivations, and challenges of entrepreneurs venturing in this sector is still scant. This study draws on a qualitative study approach using semi-structured interviews with entrepreneurs involved in the sharing accommodation sector in Petra, Jordan. Findings revealed that sharing accommodation entrepreneurs were mainly driven by the desire for economic and cultural benefits. The positive host-guest relationship (e.g., honesty toward guests and enhancing positive reputation) emerged as a key factor influencing the growth of the sharing accommodation businesses whereas market-related issues (e.g., severe competition and lobbying efforts from traditional lodging businesses) were found to be the key challenges derailing the businesses